Forceful Response To Terror

10:45 p.m.: Hijackers shoot a hostage for the first time -- an American.

Sunday noon: Egyptian commandos arrive at the airport. Two more Americans have been shot; one is dead.

8:20 p.m.: Egyptian commandos storm plane; 59 people are killed, including four of the hijackers.

That tragic chronology shows how impossible it is to estimate how quickly terrorists attack. But it is possible to respond strongly to their atrocities. Despite the regrettable loss of life in this case, at least nations -- including Egypt -- worked together in confronting the terrorists. And last month the United States acted decisively when it intercepted Palestinian terrorists in the Achille Lauro case, delivering them to justice.

Yet isolated acts by the United States or Egypt will not convince terrorists that their actions are intolerable. For its part, the United States still doesn't have a formal policy for when to use force.

That problem may be rectified next month when Vice President George Bush's task force on terrorism offers recommendations to President Reagan. A policy on terrorism doesn't mean telling terrorists how and where the United States will strike. But it does mean stating that the United States supports the use of force in any terrorist acts that victimize U.S. citizens.

Such a policy would not only carry a strong symbolic message, it would make it easier for the U.S. military to prepare for such attacks. Now regular forces are not even trained to respond to most terrorist acts.

Another effective tool against terrorists might be better use of extradition treaties. The United States has undermined such treaties by making exceptions.

For example, despite an extradition treaty with Britain, the United States has refused four British requests for the extradition of IRA members because their crimes -- killing British soldiers -- were political. The United States can't expect other countries to comply with U.S. extradition requests if it grants them so selectively.

As the Malta tragedy showed, terrorism isn't going to go away. But a clear policy by the United States and other countries might at least discourage some of it.